California — If you have a ski trip out in the American West scheduled for this week, you may want to cancel it. That’s because a massive heat wave is set to hit the West. This will result in rapid snowmelt and closures at various ski resorts.
One weather expert warned of the conundrum ski resorts will soon face. Colin McCarthy, who’s known for his storm watching posts on Twitter, revealed what temperatures ski resorts could be seeing in the weeks ahead. Multiple days with temperatures above 70 degrees at the base areas will rapidly melt the snowpack. He’s claiming that most ski resorts will close within the next two weeks, meaning that they wouldn’t even make it to April.
Does this mean that California’s ski season is over entirely after this week? I’d go with no. There are some high-elevation mountains that will likely hang on, like Palisades Tahoe and Mammoth. However, Mammoth may lose a base area (Eagle) due to the warmth.
A few notable ski resorts in California have already thrown in the towel on the season. Mt. Shasta Ski Park ended its season last week after being closed since March 2nd. Dodge Ridge ended its season today, while Mountain High Resorts’ winter is presumably over.
We’ll keep you posted here at Unofficial Networks as to what will likely be a week full of early closings.
Image Credits: Palisades Tahoe, Rohin Dhar
